Overall, Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) is the combination of practices, techniques, strategies, and technologies used in a software to help build long-lasting relationships between the university and the community they serve; thereby, leading to increased university enrollment, improved student experience, enhanced overall satisfaction, and greater retention and service.

In simple terms, Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) captures and evaluates information or conversations between individuals and the university through various channels (such as contact forms, calls, email, print communications, and text messages) and stores it in one centralized location. It offers the ability to analyze the information to better understand prospects and students and customize the university's approach to maximize successful outcomes.

In simple terms, CRM is important, because it will improve our ability to recruit and retain students; thereby ensuring student success. To reach enrollment goals and improve customer satisfaction, UTA must implement a state-of-the-art Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system. Most universities own a CRM that triggers critical communications and collects analytics about student touchpoint and recruitment efforts.

Competition amongst universities for students is high. Therefore, the university must implement comprehensive strategies, efficient processes, and cost-effective technologies that create a competitive advantage over other universities. Currently, UTA utilizes various outdated tools and platforms to generate enrollment-related phone calls, emails, print communications, and text messages. With an effective or integrated system, CRM will substantially help UTA achieve its strategic goals, optimize recruitment efforts, and unify communications strategies while providing an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness to recruit and retain students.

The CRM solution will offer the following benefits:

• Gains valuable insights from dashboards and analytics that will optimize our business processes, track the efficiency of various marketing efforts, and improve operational performance.
• Stay informed as CRM records detailed information on overall history, customer profiles, call details, previous interactions with the university, and unique preferences for each individual in one centralized location.
• Fosters greater transparency throughout the university with CRM as it helps to unify business objectives, integrate key processes, and improve collaboration to ensure long-term success.
• Increases efficiency and productivity by using automated campaigns and templates to effectively communicate for the first time or send reoccurring messages to each constituent or customer.
• Makes informed strategic decisions through analytics tools designed to evaluate the student life cycle, identify resource gaps, and highlight key areas of improvement.
• Streamlines communications by building a repository of information and conversations in a single location that can be accessed by team members and other departments.
• Saves time and resources by using CRM to automate tasks and assign available personnel to quickly respond and resolve inquiries.